The capturing of animals for pelts and attendant animal damage control is a long-practiced art. Through the years attempts have been made to make animal foot snare traps, commonly operating via a triggering device, in a more selective and humane manner to the trapped animal prey. Several states and countries have now outlawed steel leg hold traps, and pressure continues to grow for more states to do the same. The present invention is an improved triggering device to be used with snares and other trapping means, which has a wide variety of trapping uses on animals of differing sizes. The present invention is a humane selective foot snare triggering device which will be a valuable tool in capturing a wide variety of animals, and is easy to set as an extension mechanism powered, weight tensioned device, which is smaller, more portable and has a more efficient snare delivery capability.
Animal traps in the related art commonly consist of a foot snare or other trap device to catch a game animal, activated by a spring mechanism requiring a trigger mechanism to set and then release the trap. Foot snare traps in the related art, include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,623 to Aldrich (“'623 patent”); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,286,404 and 4,329,805 to Novak (“'404 patent” and “'805 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,843 to Fremont, et al (“'843 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,390 to Burt (“'390 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,844 to Torkko (“'844 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,790 to Thomas (“'790 patent”); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,405 to Rose (“'405 patent”), Patent No. 2006 006 234 of Japan to Toumine. All such referenced devices require a tensional or compressional spring mechanism to activate the snare, or utilize a spring throw arm as a lifting means for providing an oblique movement of the foot snare loop to catch the game animal, necessary when the trap is sprung or triggered to enable the snare to catch the ankle of the game animal and not result in a “toe catch” (catching only the animal's foot or toes), a common occurrence with many snare traps in existence. None of the related prior art provides the extensional mechanism of the present invention which operates in an efficient manner to activate a foot snare trap in a longitudinal or horizontal direction providing a snare delivery mechanism to provide the necessary upward and oblique movement for the snare. This oblique movement is provided by one embodiment of the present invention by a snare delivery system, comprising vertical springs pivotally connected to a trigger plate assembly. Neither the aforementioned patents nor those citations that follow provide the extensional mechanism of the present invention and would not teach the inclusion of or use of such an element, as they rely on the spring throw arm of a spring mechanism, or exclude any upward, oblique movement provision.
Some related art triggering a foot snare do utilize a longitudinal or horizontal compressional or tension spring mechanism, such as a tensional spring, including: U.S. Pat. No. 2,168,132 to Marshall (“'132 patent”), U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,827 to Starky (“'827 patent”), U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,653 to Davies (“'653 patent”), U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,662 to Dahlman (“'662 patent”), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,578 to Pitchford, Jr. (“'578 patent”). However, none of these related art patents have a trigger mechanism located within said spring mechanism housing, attached directly to the extension mechanism as is provided in one embodiment of the present invention. All of said patents have triggers located on the outside of the spring mechanism housing, and could not provide for or teach a trigger location within the housing since they provide for snares attached directly to the spring mechanisms, rendering these devices inoperative to achieve the results of the present invention. As well, the '662 patent is a mole trap operating in a vertical manner.
The snare traps found in the '527 patent, the '827 patent, the '837 patent, the '623 patent, the '653 patent, the '662 patent, the '578 patent, and the '132 patent all attach directly to the spring mechanism, the snare being directly driven by a spring operating in a different manner than the present invention. None of the related art patents or devices mentioned immediately above provide for the release of the snare trap to the trigger or spring mechanism after the trap is activated, as provided in the embodiment of the present invention. The present invention allows for use of a detachable snare attached by the operator. By having a snare attachment port located on the outside of the extension mechanism housing, the present invention provides for releasing the attached snare once the snare is triggered. All of the cited, related, prior art patents function to capture and retain the animal trapped in connection with the trigger and spring mechanism, while the present invention operates to release the snare holding the animal once the trigger mechanism activates the snare to trap the animal. As well, patent to Toumine, patents '622, U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,837 to Gummeringer (“'837 patent”), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,527 to Wicklund (“'527 patent”) utilize this retention function to dispose of the trapped animal. None of these cited patents provide for a pan tension adjustment means of the present invention. Therefore, none of these animal trapping and retention patents and devices teach or operate with the structure and function of the present invention.
While U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,624 to Rose (“'624 patent”) discloses a trigger mechanism for an animal trap, it is solely a tension regulating device without a means to activate a trap to catch animals comprising a movable plate adjustable to the weight of an animal, and the device of this related art may not be used in combination with other devices or elements of an embodiment of the present invention necessary to operate in the same manner or function as the present invention. The '624 patent (as well as all the other patents cited herein) operates in a completely different manner than the present invention, the '624 patent utilizing cams rather than an extension mechanism such as a return spring in one embodiment of the present invention. The '624 patent is not adapted to receive the trigger Mechanism of the present invention, and is therefore inoperable to set such trigger mechanism and teaches away from the present invention.
While some of the prior art discloses or teaches a pan tension adjustment means and trigger mechanism, such as Toumine, the present invention is distinguished by a particular configuration providing a plurality of pan tension adjustment stabilizers affixed to the pan, and a trigger rod having a trigger catch to engage a mount slot within the trigger pan assembly and a unique tandem extension spring mechanism, which provides a unique combination to adjust and set limb-triggered animal traps.
While the '527 patent and '837 patent do locate trigger mechanisms within the extension mechanism housing, neither would teach an embodiment of the present invention. The '837 patent requires catching the animal initially before applying the snare trigger mechanism, and the '527 patent, as well as the '827 and '653 patents, use compressional spring mechanisms attaching directly to the snare trap, operating in an opposing manner to the present invention, which in one embodiment of the present invention uses an extension return spring pulling rather than pushing the snare away from the animal prey, making the cited references inoperable as the present invention. The '527 patent, as well as the '653 and '827 patents operate with compressional spring mechanisms. Neither does the '624 patent, '527 patent, nor the '837 patent disclose the snare trap releasing function and structure of the present invention.